Slender
by Hisoka2012
Summary: This is the first story in a collection of connected fanfictions I am planning; this particular one focuses on the Slenderman, but not in a typical fashion. There are surprises. So, with that, this is 'Slender'. Good luck. [Part 1 of the Genocide Genetics Saga] [Update 06/19] I am going to finish writing up the rest of this 'fanfiction' and stop, I'm starting a novel.
1. Chapter 1

*Author's Notes: I do NOT own the copyright to the game "Slender," all of those rights go to the respectable owners of the title and creators of the game. This is all just suggestion for a storyline, none of this is confirmed 'canon' by the creator, but seeing as the game as of yet only has a loose sort of plot, this plays around with it. Anyways, this is chapter 1. Hope you enjoy!*

_Slender_

Her first thought was 'cold,' followed soon after by 'dark' and 'windy.' Hearing the sound of a clinking chain fence behind her, she opened her eyes. Her suspicions were confirmed following her view of the forest stretching in front of her as far as her eyes could see on all sides, except where the fence bisected it. She had a camera resting in her right hand at her side, and the blinking red light betrayed the fact that it was recording upside-down at the moment. She lifted it up and opened the screen, seeing simply double of the scene already in front of her. Sighing, she shut the screen and switched the light on, illuminating the darkness only slightly. The trees rustled and swayed, releasing their dying leaves from their branches only to have them deposited on the ground below. With a satisfying crunch, she began to walk.

There seemed to be a sort of path through the leaves, leading her to believe others had been here recently and she was not entirely lost. Hiding trees were revealed by the camcorder's flashlight slowly and eerily as she shuffled down the path, and after ten minutes she came across a car. 'Finally,' she thought, stepping up to the car. Peering in the window, she noticed there were no keys in the ignition and there seemed to be nobody nearby. With her heart already hanging heavy from feeling stranded, she didn't seem surprised. She turned to walk away from the car, and as she did her light caught a flash of something on the trunk of the car. Curiously she walked over to the area where she noticed the abnormality. A single piece of copy paper lay on the trunk, and there were telltale signs of the paper being written on. She flipped the paper and a strange drawing stared up at her: an egg-shaped oval with two X's on it, with what looked like what was supposed to be a body attached to it, and a message scrawled around the drawing. "Always watches… no eyes?" she read, heavily confused. She put the note in her jacket pocket and almost immediately regretted it, as a pulsing 'thud' resonated through her skull continuously. Swearing, and with the feeling she was being watched, she began walking down the path again.

She was running now, toward a house in the distance across an open field. A few minutes earlier she had spotted it, and in her excitement she took off full sprint toward the long-awaited building. Peering in, she called out "Hello?" into the tile-lined blackness. On the far wall, she noticed another one of the papers like the one in her jacket pocket. As soon as she remembered having the paper, she was hit full-force with the pulsing thud that she had seemed to forget about up until that exact second. She stepped over to the paper on the wall, pissed off and out of breath from the running. On the paper was another drawing of the egg headed suit, this time a more frantic message written on it. "Run… run… run… run… run… run…" Her breathing started to get heavier and heavier, her fear becoming tangible to the point that she could taste it in her mouth. She stepped out of the house, still facing the paper. When she turned around and looked into the forest, she finally relaxed. Until she saw the man behind the tree with the blank face and suit. White noise built up inside her head and she passed out.

"Yo, Anja, wake up. Class is about to start." She opened her eyes and looked up at the blurry face looming over her. Stretching and yawning, she pulled herself off of the table and let her eyes go into focus. "Destry…" Destry was leaned against the table, smiling down at her from his makeshift throne. "How long was I asleep?" she asked, recalling the strange dream she had just been woken from. "Well, judging from the position of the sun and with Mercury in retrograde…" "Quit being an ass. Just tell me." He laughed, "Ok, ok. About twenty minutes. It gave me time to walk Axie to school." Axie was Destry's little sister, and for only being in elementary school she was extremely bright. "Alright, everyone quiet down. We're about to observe optical illusions, so you all need to relax your 'chi,'" came a voice from outside the door to the classroom. Professor Dent stepped into and across the room with an elegance and grace only achieved through careful coordination and concentration. He wasn't a true professor, never had been, but his students during his first year of teaching three years ago were misinformed and always referred to him as 'Professor.' The name stuck. Destry swiftly took his seat next to the still-groggy Anja, his childhood friend of almost ten years. She smiled at the Professor as he passed, and he almost had to bite his tongue to stop himself from laughing at her tousled hair and half-opened eyes. She flipped him the bird, still smiling, and the gesture was kindly returned. A student dimmed the lights in the room as the Professor switched the projector to the 'on' position and the illusion slowly came into focus on the screen in front of the room.

Sometime later, toward the end of the class, the Professor explained the next image to be shown. "The last picture of the day is not an optical illusion, but more of a 'drawn paradox,' if you will. I thought of it a few days ago after… I guess it would be called a dream. Any who, here ya go." As the image was put onto the screen, time seemed to slow for Anja. 'This can't be happening,' she thought, 'no… not this…' On the screen was an altogether too-familiar drawing: an egg-shaped oval with two X's on it, with what looked like what was supposed to be a body attached to it, and a message scrawled around the drawing. Anja stood up, wide-eyed and open mouthed, and stared back and forth between the note and the Professor with clear disbelief. "Um… Anja? Something wrong?" the Professor asked, with a slight glint of either curiosity or recognition in his eyes. "I… I…" Destry coolly put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm fine," she said, with a breath of relief as Destry's hand seemed to release her tension like an airbrake on a truck right after it stops at a light. She sat back down slowly, never taking her eyes off the projected note. After a long pause, the Professor switched to projector off the student returned the normal state of the lights, marking the end of the lesson. "Anja, are you sure you're alright?" Destry asked in a hushed tone. "That note… that note…" "What about it?" She drew in a long breath and finally told him. "I saw the exact same one in my dream before class started." The bell rang and anything Anja would have said after that was lost in the shuffling and talking of students going to their next classes.

School let out, and Destry had to run to catch up to Anja for their usual walk home. She was acting strange, on every other day she would wait for him at a street corner and tease him about being late every time. Finally walking beside her, and despite being out of breath, he asked her what was going on. "I don't know, honestly, I've just been on edge today… I felt like someone was watching me up until now…" "Let's just get home, we can talk more about it there." Destry's mother worked all day, not getting home until after he was asleep, and his father had been dead for about as long as he had known Anja. They stepped into his empty house as they did every afternoon, the same routine as it had been since middle school: go to Destry's house, study, and part ways when Destry needed to pick up Axie from her school's club activities. They went immediately to the living room and set their bags down, jumping into their homework as soon as it hit the table. "Gah, being a junior sometimes blows… all this work," Destry whispered, mostly to himself. He found himself nabbing glances up at Anja whenever he could. He always had been attracted to her shoulder-length, straight black hair and her contrast of bright blue eyes and fair skin. Today she had some color in her cheeks, presumably from stress or uncertainty from the event in their art class. He excused himself to the bathroom for a few minutes and, upon arrival, let his emotion flow. Gripping the sink, he stared at himself in the mirror and tried to compare himself to Anja's soft beauty. Staring, he noted his 'emo-cut' dark brown hair and his black-irised eyes, and he nearly lost his temper. There was no way to compare him to her; in his eyes she was too good for him. He walked back to the living room and decided to finally bring up the day's events to Anja. "What exactly happened today? What did you dream about in those twenty minutes?" She looked up at him with a slightly surprised and very distressed look on her face. "Why… exactly do you want to know?" "You've never acted like this before. In all of the nine years we've been friends you've been normal. Mostly." She slapped his arm jokingly. "Hey, watch it. I wish I knew exactly what happened, just… when Professor Dent put up that picture, I couldn't believe it… in my dream, if found the exact same note on the trunk of an abandoned car in this forest. I decided to put it in my jacket pocket, and as soon as I did there was this pain… a pulsating, thudding pain, deep in my head. That's when I felt like I was being followed in the dream." Destry very well could have told her to stop, that it was simply insane, but he instead asked her to start from the beginning so he could understand.

Once she finished to the point where she passed out in the dream, Destry stood up and offered to get her some water. "Please…" Her voice had wavered multiple times during the discussion, and she could use the refreshment. Destry came back with the water, and she gulped it down gratefully before even saying "Thank you." He got up to take the cup back into the kitchen, and she watched him walk away. 'He's gotten so tall…' she found herself thinking, despite seeing him every day. Comparing his almost six foot, one inch body with her meager five foot, four inch one was almost cruel to her, but she did so anyway to sort of 'indulge' every once in a while. Destry walked back into the living room, and she noted his thick-rimmed glasses he pulled off so well, making him an almost picture perfect hipster. "Sorry for spilling all of that on you…" she almost regretted telling him about her dream, despite how attentive he had been throughout the whole description and the completely serious tone he had used any time he had a comment to make or question to ask. "Why? I wanted you to tell me, don't be sorry. I'm sorry for bringing it up, so if anyone should be sorry it should be me." She stared at him with fearful eyes. "I… no, it's… its fine, really. Neither of us should be sorry over this, that's just stupid." Destry smiled to her with a completely sincere look that warmed her up inside and filled her with relief. "We should start picking up; Axie should be getting out soon." Silently, the two of them gathered their belongings and stepped back into the chilly outdoors. Destry was the first to break the silence, noting the seasonally cold weather. "Already October, huh? Hell, seems like yesterday you and I were wearing shorts and a t-shirt, trying to beat the summer heat." Anja chuckled a bit. "What, not a cold weather type person? You look so natural in a jacket, I thought you would be." "Yeah, well, you're mistaken." They reached the street corner where Anja had to part ways with Destry to go home. Usually, the goodbye was short and sweet, a typical "see ya later" type thing, but today unfortunately seemed different. She had shared the most unsettling dream she had ever had with him, and it just seemed wrong to just leave. The two of them simply stood at the corner, every now and again a car passing by, and time seemed to stretch on forever. Finally, a church bell rang off in the distance, and Destry needed to get his sister. "Well… bye," Anja said quietly, despite her mind and heart screaming at her to say more. The two stepped away from each other awkwardly and parted ways for the day. Suddenly remembering, Destry called out "If you need anything, call me!" Anja nodded, and continued walking the rest of the way to her house in silence yet again.


	2. Chapter 2

Anja sat on her bed, breathing out a sigh of relief. The day had been long, and she was ready to refresh herself with sleep, but in the back of her mind she worried about what her dreams would contain. She looked over at her bed stand, specifically at her phone, and laid down. She slowly closed her eyes, hesitating for a few seconds before her window to the real world outside was diminished. Seconds later, she jolted back awake in a sweat and with a wild look in her eyes. She had seen the note amidst the black of her eyelids. Grabbing for the phone, she mashed the numbers to call Destry and fumbled the speaker up to her ear. A weak, tired voice broke off the ringing. "… hello?" "Destry, it's me." She was frantic. "The note. I saw it again. It was right there. I saw it." "Anja, calm down." She took in a breath, taking his advice. "Okay, good. Now, what the hell possessed you to call me at midnight? I know I told you to call if you needed something, but midnight?" "I'm sorry, I just… I needed someone to talk to. You were the first person I could think of." She skipped the part where she forgot anyone else existed. "Can… can we talk in person?" "Now?!" Destry was as surprised and pissed as she thought he could be. "Y-yeah, now… anywhere works." He sighed and paused for a long time before answering. "Fine, but just… not for too long. Is the park fine?" "Yeah, park's fine. See you there." The screen of the phone darkened, indicating the end of the call. Time sped up for her for the first time in a long time as she grabbed her jacket and quietly snuck out of the house as to not wake her parents. She ran down the dark sidewalk to the park with a mixture of happiness and worry.

The park was a modest display of what the small town had to offer for its youth. It consisted of the standard complement of a metal slide, monkey bars, a single swing, and a rusty jungle gym, as well as a few picnic tables and a small fountain situated in the center of the park. On all but one side extended a normally beautiful forest that was 'creepy as fuck' in the dark. Destry shifted uncomfortably every time the leaves rustled when the wind blew. Anja stood quietly next to him with her eyes darting back and forth across the trees, hoping not to see the soft white glow of paper in the moonlight. The slight whispers of Destry added to the eerie illusion. "So… what did you see? I assume that's why we're here, right?" His voice had changed from the irritation over the phone earlier to a sort of sympathetic tone. "Yeah… it was the same note we saw in Professor's class today. But… the pulse was back, and now I have a headache." Destry turned to her and held his arms out to hug her, but allowed her to complete the gesture. She gratefully accepted his embrace as the tears streamed down her face. "I want to know why this is happening, and to me… I just… I don't understand." Her hands grasped at his jacket and she pulled him closer to her, staining his shirt with her tears. Time seemed to stop as a cold wind rushed past the embrace, and immediately they both felt something was wrong. Despite the temperature already being cold, they felt the air start to cool down even beyond where it had been. Anja was the first of them to look up and around, and nearly fell over. "Anja? What's wrong?" Destry asked, suddenly looking around quickly. His face paled. The park had all but disappeared, leaving only a clearing and the cement foundations for the park equipment. The fence had grown taller, and the previously clear side was now filled with a seemingly endless stretch of forest. The wind stopped, yet the cold remained and the moonlight intensified. "Destry… what the hell is this…?" "What?" "This is… this is the same forest from that dream…"

"How?! That was a dream! It couldn't be real… it just…" Anja hugged him again to calm him down. "It's okay, we'll deal with it… somehow…" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a glow on a tree deeper in the forest, and she dropped her grasp on Destry. "Anja?" He turned to look where she was looking, noticing the glow. "No way…" Anja broke off into a sprint, clambering noisily over the fence as Destry struggled to catch up with her. He got to the other side of the fence with little effort to the point where she stood. "Where did you get that?" Destry asked, referring to the video camera Anja had in her hands. "I don't really know, it just showed up… it's already on, too." She flicked the flashlight switch to the 'on' position to test it, disappointed that it did little to help. "Come on, the glow was this way." They both took a deep breath and started to trek.

Ten minutes had passed, and they had made no progress on locating the note. "Anja, wait up." She was almost running at this point, and despite his ease earlier, Destry was having trouble keeping up with her. "Look, we're probably just walking in circles here. We haven't seen that damn paper since we started, right? What if it just disappeared like the rest of the park?" She turned quickly to look at him, and he noticed her pale skin and dark look in her eyes. She was serious. Suddenly, her expression seemed to change into one of total disbelief and awe. Destry looked and immediately fell under the same spell. On the trunk of the tree behind them, directly at eye level and shining with the moonlight, was a paper. "What… what is that supposed to be?" Destry asked to nobody in particular, referring to the depiction on the paper. Drawn on it was a grove of trees and a figure, a figure with an egg-shaped oval head and a thin suit for a body. "Oh shit…" "Destry, did you hear that?" They both went quiet, listening intently. A heavy, metallic piano tone rang through the air, pulsing inside Anja and Destry's heads, causing them to clasp their ears and drop to their knees. Almost as soon as the sound had started, it stopped, and the two stood up in terrified confusion. "Let's get out of here." Destry started to walk in the direction he believed the fence was in. "Destry, wait." "What is it?" "Do you hear static?" They listened again, and Destry saw the camera in Anja's hands was close to the ground. "Oh, it's just the camera. I'll take it." He reached down to grab the camera, and that's when he saw it. On the screen, in the distance, partially hidden behind a tree. He fell straight onto his ass. "Destry?!" She turned around and saw it as well. The being from her dream, the one drawn on the notes. "S… slen… slenderman…" she whispered, without even knowing what the word meant. The static from her camera built up in her head; looking up, the being appeared closer somehow; Destry called out to her as she felt her consciousness slipping, just as it had earlier.


	3. Chapter 3

Anja jerked awake, sweating and crying. She was back in her room, just like she had been before she left to go call Destry. "Did he bring me home?" She decided to talk to him at school to figure out exactly what had happened the night before.

She got to school early, so rather than sit and wait for Destry, she went to look for Professor Dent. Arriving at the door to his office, she took a deep breath and entered with both a smile and a look of genuine concern on her face. "Oh, hey Anja. Didn't know you got to school this early. What's up?" Professor was in warm, slightly childish spirits, as he usually was. "Hey Professor; I don't usually get here quite as early, but this morning I found I had a question that needs to be answered." "Well, shoot." He rested back in his office chair and adjusted his purple necktie to be more comfortable. "It's about that picture you showed the class the other day… where did you get it?" Despite his preparation, the Professor tensed up. "W-why do you need to know? I explained before I put it up that I saw it in a dream, and it fit the lesson I had planned. That's it." She noticed the beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he shifted back and forth. "Here's the thing… I saw the exact same note – I mean picture – in my dream before class started yesterday." He looked up at her, frightened. "What? You… I… what?" He had to stand up to keep from falling over in his chair. "You're kidding, right Anja? Please tell me you're kidding…" "Not kidding. And – never mind." She decided to keep the previous night under wraps until she talked to Destry. "Listen, Anja, if you have ANY more dreams like that, I HAVE to know. This is extremely serious if we're talking about the same thing, and if we truly are then you're in danger." "I'm not sure I understand…" The Professor quickly pulled open his personal laptop and rapidly typed into a personal files search bar. "Anja, have you heard of a being called the _slenderman_?" She stirred, but decided to play dumb. "Never heard of it." "Look at this." A picture was on the screen, an image of a field with a forest around it, all black and white. "Am I supposed to see something…?" She was confused. "You mean you don't? Look at the broken glass." In the bottom left corner was a decrepit, old house with broken windows facing the camera. "I still don't –" "LOOK" He interrupted loudly, startling her. She stared at the glass until her eyes almost glazed over. Then she saw. In the reflection and in the distance, the figure. The one who was in the forest with them last night, just standing there. "Oh god… there it is…" "Yeah. There have never been any direct pictures of him, just pictures like this, or where he happens to show up in the distance of the image. Have you seen him before?" There was no use in hiding it anymore. "… yes." "I thought so. How often?" "Just twice. And only recently." The Professor seemed to relax substantially, but still had an air of anxiety. "Alright, remember what I told you. It is extremely important." "Got it." He smiled, returning to his normal self. "Now get outta here, I've got some work to do. See ya in class, Anja!" She smiled and said goodbye to the Professor, and headed to the classroom.

Destry was waiting in the room when she got there, much to her relief. Instantly, she slung questions at him, catching him off guard. "What happened last night? Where did you go? Did you pass out too?" He stared at her, confused. "Anja… what are you talking about?" She stopped. "What? After I called last night?" "You never called." Her head was spinning now, what did he mean? It suddenly hit her with full force. "It was… it was all a dream…" From the point where she woke up and called Destry to when she passed out from that strange being, she was in actuality asleep. "Oh shit…" He stood up and put his arms around her shoulders reassuringly. "Anja, get it together. It was just a dream, don't worry." "That's the thing, Destry; it's not _just _a dream. I have proof." She started to turn to leave the room. "Wait. Please. Tell me what happened in the dream. I want to know." She stared at him for a minute before sitting down, sighing, to tell him the story. "So last night, I fell asleep…"

Anja finished the story just before class started. Destry, who had listened intently, was pale-faced and in disbelief. The Professor broke the silence by shouting, "3-D ART. How the FUCK do they do it?!" The Professor had no bounds about using what is typically considered 'foul language' in the classroom, and that made him fairly popular among his students and pissed off the other teachers. He didn't care. Anja quickly walked over to the Professor before he had a chance to go on. "I need to talk to you after class. It's important." He nodded and gestured for her to return to her desk. An image came into focus in the front of the room, drawn with multiple perspective lines. The image was that of a field with a forest around it. Anja looked at the Professor, and he put a finger over his mouth, motioning for her to 'be quiet' about the image. A student in the front of the class called up, "Hey Professor, is that the cameraman?" "Where?" The student pointed. "There, the reflection in that broken glass. He's just kind of standing there, without a camera or anything." Anja and the Professor shared a glance before he bullshitted the kid. "I've never noticed it before. Nice going. Problem is, since I don't really know much about this picture, other than that it's good for 3-D examples, I can't answer your question. Believe what you want, after all." Anja chuckled. Total shit.

The bell rang and class ended. "Alright Anja, what's up?" "It was a dream. I thought it was real, but it was a dream." The Professor stopped her. "What are you talking about?" "I went to sleep last night, thought I woke up, and I saw 'him'." "The slenderman?" "Yeah. And Destry was there too. And saw him." He stopped and looked into Anja's blue eyes with worry. "The Destry in your dream saw the slenderman?" She nodded. "Okay, you need to let me know if he has the same dreams. This just became ten times more serious, Destry is in as much danger as you… and me." The bell interrupted their conversation. "Now, you need to go to your next class. Don't be too late." She smiled. "Thanks, Professor." "No prob."

School ended, and Anja took off for the street corner. She wanted to beat Destry there so she could prepare to talk to him about what the Professor had said earlier that day. Much to her surprise, he was already at the corner with Axie. "Hi Anja!" "Hey Axie, what's up?" "I didn't have club today, so I get to hang out with you guys!" Her girly attitude was very different from Anja's serious, partially depressed outlook. Anja liked it. Destry gentlemanly held out his hand, and in a 'fancy' voice asked, "Shall we go?" Anja took his hand, replying with, "Certainly, sir." The three of them laughed and walked to the Clampes' family home. When they arrived, Axie quickly dashed upstairs. "Anja, there's something I wanna show you!" "Alright." Anja turned to Destry. "I need to tell you something, alone. And today." "O… kay?" In a split second, Axie was hopping back down the stairs with a paper in her hand. Anja paled; surely Axie had the damn note in her hand. "Lookie, lookie!" Axie held the paper out to her. It was a drawing of different colored stick figures holding hands. Under a pink figure were the words 'Anja Liefsditter' and under the black was 'Destry Clampes.' Anja was both shocked and relieved. "Axie, what's this supposed to be?" Destry asked, referring to the building in the background. "Oh, that's the church!" "Church?" "Well duh, marriages are in churches!" Both Anja and Destry instantly flushed, glanced at each other, and immediately looked away. "Axie, what are you thinking?!" "You guys are in love, right?" Anja gasped in surprise. "We… uh… no… um…" She was flustered and unable to speak clearly, her emotions running wild. Destry was able to calm down enough to tell Axie to go back upstairs to do her homework quietly. "That was…" "Yeah." "Mhmm." An awkward quiet moment passed, and Anja almost whispered, "So… we're alone now, and –" Destry cut her off. "W-what?!" They both flushed again, and Anja had to explain. "N-no, I meant we're alone, so I can tell you what I need to." He sighed, exasperated, and set himself up to listen. "Professor told me that you're in danger." "WHAT?! How?" "Remember how I said you were in my dream? I think it has something to do with that." He tried to comprehend what she had told him; despite believing what she had said up until that point, he did not understand how he was in danger from it. "Can you figure out exactly how I'm in 'danger'?" "I'm sure Professor will tell me tomo-" "I need to know tonight." Anja quietly thought about her options. "Isn't the Professor's home phone listed on the school's website?" "Yeah, but you know I don't have a computer, Anja." "Then I'll call him once I get home and then call you." Destry nodded in agreement as Axie came running down the stairs. "Destry! I need help with my homework!" Destry stood and turned to his sister. "Alright, give me just a second." Axie smiled and ran back up the stairs as he turned back to Anja. "Guess this means you've got to go… sorry about today." She had a confused look on her face. "The Axie thing… her drawing…" he explained. Suddenly remembering the drawing, she blushed and smiled. "It's… it's okay." They made their way to the door, and upon opening it stood for a few seconds before Anja finally stepped off the porch and onto the sidewalk. "Thanks for being there for me, Destry. I appreciate it." She smiled warmly as she said this, pulling her jacket closer to her cold body. "Glad I could help." He returned the smile. "See ya later." The door closed, and she started her walk home in the chilled October air.

The dial tone sounded three times before there was an answer. "Hello?" "Professor?" Anja heard what sounded like shuffling papers for a minute before he answered. "Anja, why are you calling?" "Destry wants to know why he's in danger, and so do I." He took a breath before he explained. "I haven't told you the full story. It's called 'slender sickness,' and it affects your mind. Your dreams will feel intensely real, and that man will pursue you relentlessly. If someone in your dream sees him, they get 'slender sickness' too. You saw him, in my dream. Destry saw him in yours. This is spreading at a horribly rapid rate, and it will drive you insane. That's the beginning phase." He stopped for a second before going on. "If it continues, he… he pursues you in the real world. He will kill you." At this point, Anja was in tears of fear. "Why?" "I don't know, Anja. I'm sorry." "… It's fine. See you tomorrow." She hung up the phone before he had a chance to respond. Lying down on her bed, she stared at her ceiling for five minutes before calling Destry, so she had a chance to calm down and dry her tears. She opened her phone and typed the familiar numbers to call him. The dial tone sounded only once this time before he answered. "So?" "There's a problem…"


	4. Chapter 4

Fridays for most students are days where the lazy get lazier and the smart have a chance to relax; this was not the case for Anja or Destry. Their stress over their situation was simply too high to allow them to slow down in any regard. For the first time in six years, they walked to school together, discussing the problem. Both of them were in somber spirits as they shuffled along the frozen concrete. "Should I talk to the Professor?" Anja looked up as Destry asked. "Well… yeah, that's really the only thing we can do, right?" He sighed. "I thought so." The rest of the walk was in silence.

They stepped into the Professor's office and Destry cleared his throat to grab his attention. The Professor turned to them immediately, as if he expected them and knew they were there before they even realized it. "Anja, Destry. I assume you're here because of what I've been telling you, that you both are in danger. Destry, have you had any strange dreams yet?" Destry shifted before replying with a meek "Yes…" Anja's eyes widened, she had no idea he had any of the dreams yet. She briefly wondered why he didn't tell her on the walk to school, but the Professor broke her train of thought. "When?" the Professor continued. "Last night… I went to sleep, and I was in some basement or something with a video camera. It was confusing, but there was one of those notes on the wall…" "What did it say?" Anja interrupted, with great intensity. "Umm… it said…" Destry was hesitant, and it confused both Anja and the Professor. He took a breath, began to blush, and said "The note said 'it came for my girl, now it comes for me.'" Everyone in the room was silent, comprehending what he had said. Anja was the first to speak. "What's that supposed to mean? Your girl…" She stopped and blushed, turning away quickly. Professor Dent glanced at the two of them and spoke to Destry. "Look, I'm not going to try to delve into your personal lives, but I need to be the first to know if you have another one of these dreams. Well…" he looked over at the embarrassed Anja, "maybe the second." Once Anja collected herself, she directed a question to the Professor. "What about Axie?" "Axie…?" "Destry's little sister." He visibly changed, his eyes became darker and his lips became tense. "Destry, if she shows up in any of your dreams, you need to make sure she doesn't see 'him'. I assume you know who I'm talking about." He was serious in tone, and it slightly scared Anja. Destry simply nodded. "Alright, I need you two to go now, I have work to do." Anja spoke up quietly. "Thank you, Jason." The Professor looked up at her, having not heard someone call him by his real name for quite some time. "Of course. See ya in class." She smiled, grabbed Destry's arm, and walked out of the office in higher spirits.

After class, their routine seemed to be back to normal. Destry and Anja walked into the Clampes' home in decent moods, smiling and laughing at each other's jokes like they used to. Axie was back at her club as usual, so they didn't have to deal with the awkward drawing or the feelings that soon followed. Anja parked herself on an available couch and playfully stared at Destry. "What is it?" He was confused by her attitude, considering the content of the note he spoke about earlier appeared to shame her in his eyes. She mockingly pouted, "What, I'm not allowed to be happy?" "N-no, it's not that, it's just that… after today, I figured you'd be more… you know what I'm trying to say, right?" She smiled again. "Yeah, I get it. And… you're wrong." Destry was suddenly flustered. "Wait, what do you mean? What are _you_ saying?" She got up and walked over to the table where he stood, stopping almost directly in front of him. "Destry… I don't exactly know how to say this, but…" He cut her off midsentence, interjecting with his own statement. "Anja, I love you. I always have." He turned to walk away, with his face turning a quick crimson. "I feel the same way…" Anja whispered, and he stopped in his tracks. "W-what?" "Destry, I love you too… please, I really do…" They felt like they could hear each other's heartbeats in the still, quiet air as they stared at each other. "Destry, I…" She was cut off by Destry; he had pressed his lips to hers suddenly. After the stunned second, she returned the motion by giving in to the feeling, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him closer. Their embrace lasted close to thirty seconds before they both finally pulled away, slowly. "That was my first kiss, you know," she said with a smile. "Heh, mine too. I'm glad it was with you." They both stood awkwardly by the table, sensing how cliché the moment was. "I should probably go soon…" "Yeah, yeah, of course." Anja opened the door, allowing entrance to the frigid outside air, and started to leave when Destry called out to her. "Hey, are you available this weekend?" "Yep. Wanna hang out?" He blushed. "S-sure!" She smiled again, and Destry watched her walk until she reached a street corner, and once she was out of sight he danced around, giggling like a little girl before remembering to go get Axie and walk her home.

"I'm home!" Anja called out, stepping from the porch into the foyer. She waited for a minute for a response, but none came. "Hello? Anyone home?" The silent house suddenly felt hostile, however empty it may have been. A post-it note was stuck to the chrome door of the refrigerator. She plucked it off and read it aloud to herself, quietly. "Gone to the city for your dad's work, we'll be gone a few days. There's some money on the table." She put the thirty dollars in her pocket for later and decided to use the computer for a while. A chat box popped up once it was noticed she was online, and she became engrossed by a conversation on the characters of Persona 4. Hours later, she felt the urge to call the Professor and discuss the issues at hand and in the back of her mind at all times. She punched his number into her phone and waited. The dial tone sounded multiple times before the answering machine came up, saying "This is Jason Dent; I'm sorry I can't come the phone right now, but leave your name and number and I'll get back to you when I can." She hung up and tried again, it wasn't like him to ignore a phone call. He had answered his phone during class multiple times before this; nothing should be stopping him now. The tone rang. No pickup, only the answering machine again. Now Anja was worried, something was up and she wanted to know. It could certainly be as simple as him being out, or in the shower, or nowhere near his phone; she suspected otherwise. He seemed to be getting more and more tense recently, and the cause of it may have gotten to him… she didn't want to think too hard about it. She found herself typing numbers into her phone without even knowing what she was doing, and seconds later Destry answered. "Anja? What's up?" She had to think for a minute before she could muster a response. "I think something may have happened to the Professor. I tried to call him a couple times and he never answered." "You seem calm about it though… are you sure he's in trouble or something? Maybe he simply can't pick up the phone right now." She started to tear up. "I thought of that, but think about it beyond just that. He seemed tense today, more so than usual… I honestly think there's something wrong, as much as I hope it isn't." She could hear him sit down and assumed it was due to stress and disbelief. "I'm sorry Destry, I just thought…" She was unable to continue, her crying made it difficult to think. "It's okay, come over tomorrow and we'll talk about it in detail, and when you cry I can kiss your tears away." Anja stopped crying and blushed again, stuck between a strange mix of happiness and worry. "A-alright, sounds good… I'll see you tomorrow morning." She heard him chuckle a bit before returning the goodbye, and her empty home was dark and quiet once again.

The sound of wind echoed through the corridor and caused her to stir. She slowly opened her eyes, fearful yet curious. Empty hallways stretched out before her, small amounts of moonlight shining through the fogged windows as they tediously fought to push through the overcast night sky. A strange orange aura suddenly appeared in her pocket and the customary video camera was already in her hand. Reaching into her pocket, she discovered eight orange glow sticks, sparking her curiosity. "Okay, this is… different." A scream sounded in the distance, reverberating off the cold concrete walls and shaking her to the bone, as well as letting her know why she was there. The scream was that of a man. "Professor!" She started to run through the twisting halls, quickly disorienting herself and going in circles. Turning through another doorway, her jacket snagged on the frame and one of the glow sticks rattled to the floor, shining its soft marmalade illumination across the bleak, gray floor. She bent over to pick it up, but halfway down she realized she could use it for navigating the confusing rooms. Gaining confidence, she stood back up and stared down the hollow corridor that seemed to stretch endlessly before her. Beginning to follow the source of the screams, each step seemed to become increasingly difficult and required concentration and an excess of effort, tiring her quickly. A sharp tap snapped in the chilled air, and she spun around with her heart racing. Nothing was there. Slowly, and with deliberation, her pace rose again and she reached the end of the hall. "Oh god, help me!" The shrill cry came quickly, and it was closer than she had expected. She turned the corner and stopped. Everything had disappeared; every wall, every floor, every noise, every light, and every sense of security had simply vanished. "What… what the serious fuck?" The scream faded in, steadily getting louder and more painful, her ears barely able to handle the din. She began to shriek along with it, clamping her hands over her ears and falling to her knees. All of it stopped. All the walls were back, the floors, the noises echoing, the piercing beams of moonlight; everything except for the security. She lifted her hands off her ears and stood up, hearing a clacking sound. Another glow stick had fallen out of her pocket. After she regained a bit of her composure, she continued down the hall. Whispers began to slowly plague her, filling her head with an unwelcoming sort of white noise. The halls turned over, the ceiling became the floor and vice versa, the solid surfaces surrounding her became liquid in nature, flowing with disgusting ripples, and the darkness enveloped her completely.


	5. Chapter 5

"Is this your total evaluation of the scenario so far?" "Yes, sir." "Interesting. I also trust you will see this through to the end, correct?" The man stood up and held his hand out to his interviewer. "Of course. I would never breach the trust of the Society." The interviewer also stood at this point, accepting the gesture the man had offered and completing the handshake. The man stepped out of the office, situated high on the north side of the tower, and took the polished elevator to the lobby. Stepping into the light rain outside, he looked back at the building and smiled. The skyscraper was the tallest building in the world, surpassing the Burj Khalifa by over fifty floors, and it housed one of the most controversial companies on the planet; even the mafia feared them. "Genocide Genetics… fitting." The man didn't open an umbrella, he was used to the regular drizzle of Portland, and only after climbing into his limo did he open his folder. The files spilled out onto the small table, sort of separating themselves into a more manageable form. The man picked one of the files off the table, opening it to inspect the contents that were under the label 'AL'. He smiled again, a ghoulish grin that marked a face of evil, and chuckled to himself. "Soon, everything will be over. Nighty… night."

Anja laid in her bed in a cold sweat. Her dream the night before had been terrifying and taxing, to say the least. She glanced at the clock by her bedside, and upon noticing the time, she flew up to get dressed. "Shit, I'm gonna be so late…" Rushing downstairs, she began to prepare her coffee and gather her belongings. The bell rang on the grandfather clock, signifying the mark of the half hour and causing her to look at the calendar suddenly. Anja dropped her shoes and sighed, grumbling, "Saturday…" This was not the first time she had been tricked by the primary day at the end of the week; in fact, just the week before she had gone through the same dance and rush. Remembering that her parents were gone for the day at least, the word 'relaxation' popped into her head and refused to quit. The coffee was stopped, the blinds shut, and all but a bra and pajama pants were removed. She set herself on her couch and flipped on the television, excitingly noting that Adventure Time was being aired, and mentally prepared herself to do the same exact thing for the duration of the day. A few episodes later, a knock came at the door, and while still being in a sleepy haze, reinforced by the senseless show, Anja opened the door. Destry was standing on the doorstep, and his ear-to-ear grin quickly changed into an enormous blush as he noticed her state of dress. "What?" She looked down, quickly turned red, and slapped her arms around her partially exposed chest. Destry turned away and almost whispered, "S-sorry… I didn't mean to…" She started to laugh. "It's fine, it's my fault anyways. Come in, it's freaking cold." Shutting the door behind them, Anja let her arms drop again. "A-Anja!" She looked into his midnight eyes and peacefully told him to calm down. "Don't worry about it, okay? Just… let it happen." He still averted his eyes and tried to look at anything besides her cleavage, but was noticeably more relaxed in his mannerisms. "Princess… Cookie? What the hell?" "Oh, it's Adventure Time. I'll turn it off." "No no no, it's interesting…" They spent the next few hours absorbing the television marathon, letting the day slip by them in random, colorful cartoon bliss.

The grandfather clock rang to mark the start of the evening, knocking some sense into the previously dazed Anja and Destry. "So… did you ever figure out what happened to the Professor?" "What?" Anja was still in a trance of sorts, her mind having been racing during Destry's entire visit; normally she would wear more clothing around him, but today was different for some reason. Unfortunately for her, the memories of her previous night, including the horrid nightmare, came rushing back to her. "Oh… no, I didn't… but I had this weird dream…" His face darkened, he didn't like the sound of any of it. "Okay… go ahead and tell me. I'll listen, always." She had pleading, shining eyes as she looked at him hopefully, and she told him her terror. When the story ended, Destry was shaking with fear and stress and Anja was crying lightly. A timid rain started to fall outside, creating a light patter on the windows, doing nothing to improve the mood in the least. The little light that had remained in the room was dimmed by the dark clouds that rolled in seemingly out of nowhere. Anything white in the room amplified the remaining twinkle of illumination, including Anja's bra. It, of course, drew Destry's eyes and attention. She was distraught, but understood why his focus was constantly changing. Her heart was racing as she told him, "Destry… here." She reached out and softly took his hand in hers and lifted it to her bosom. "Anja… wait, stop…" His breath increased sharply, along with his heart rate, and he tried to pull his hand back. She strengthened her grip and pull, and placed his hand over her heavy heart. The heat raised in the room, the blood in both of them boiling with embarrassment while his hand rested on her breasts. As soon as she took her hand away, however, he snapped his own back to his lap, sweating and closing his eyes; he enjoyed it, but it was one of the single most embarrassing moments of his entire life. "Sorry, Destry, I don't know what I… I just…" Tears welled up in her eyes. He leaned over to her and placed a light kiss on her nervous, confused lips. She smiled when he sat back down, and he returned the gesture. "So, now that that's covered, let's get back on topic. Is there anything I can do to help?" "I don't think so, let's just wait until Monday and see if he's back." He nodded in agreement silently, but maintained his decent mood. "So are you coming over tomorrow, too?" "Not sure… Axie wants to do something with me, maybe a movie of some sort." Anja seemed disappointed, but accepting. "Wanna come along?" She beamed at him. "Really? I can?" He chuckled. "Yes, if you feel like it." The air about her was electric with the new happiness she felt, a feeling she had not been able to experience very much of recently because of the damned pale figure haunting her sleep. Destry and the Professor had been the only two people in the past week that had been able to give her any remote glimmer of hope and strength to pull her through intact. She felt as if she owed them her life. "So… are you coming with us?" "Huh?" She had forgotten Destry was still there, and he snapped her back out of her thinking. "S-sure, I'll come with you guys. What're you going to see?" "Silent Hill Revelations." She smiled. "Cool." A few minutes later, Anja accompanied him to the door to watch him leave and make sure he got at least to the street corner safely before he turned out of her view. She sighed dreamily, her head spinning from memories of the 'chest event' that had transpired earlier that day. Still smiling, she got herself ready to rest, recuperating herself for the coming day.

He climbed over the fence for the second time. The camera was in his hand again, already flashing the indicator that told him it was recording. He didn't fight it, but sighed instead and began to step into the expansive and empty concrete room. Every time his hard-soled boot hit the floor, the snap reverberated off of the walls; the acoustics were impressive, but the lack of sufficient light and the presence of the tall stalker struck him as being a turn-off for any band needing a practice area. Soon, he reached the end of one room and the start of another, and he stopped suddenly in the doorway. Something wasn't right. His steps toward the end of his march did not synchronize with the echo that cried back. Testing his burning paranoia, he made a few paces forward before abruptly halting again. This time he was sure, there was a second pair of feet attempting to walk in step with him, and they were slipping up. Timidly, he turned to see who it could be, and only after a full turn did he see the hair bobbing at the bottom of his vision. A little girl he knew well was smiling at him with a wide grin, and he deliberately let out a massive sigh. "What are you doing here? I didn't know anybody else knew about this place besides me and a few emo bands." The girl looked puzzled. "I don't really know… I followed you here!" He gave her a weak smile and held his hand out for her to take. "Come on, we'll go together. It helps to have company here." He wasn't sure if this was entirely true, but it was worth a shot. They walked hand-in-hand down the large chambers, not entirely sure where they were headed. A crashing sound rang through the complex, startling the two travelers and not helping the boy's paranoia in the least. "What… was that?" the girl asked him, though he was just as confused as she was. "Let's… um, go find out…" He had seen enough horror movies to know that probably wasn't the best idea, but his courage was draining quickly and he needed a bolster to his spirit. The girl let her firm grip of his hand go and ran ahead, visibly shivering from fear but giggling to attempt to mask the all-too-obvious. "C-c'mon, slowpoke! It's getting cold!" She was right, the air had slowly but steadily dropped in temperature during their time in the strange rooms. A small, inexplicable wisp of wind brushed past the two of them, and he thought he could hear a static-like sound coming from somewhere. "W-what was that?" The girl was slowing down, positioning herself closer to him for safety. Her eyes were wide, her mouth lightly opened in a sort of astonishment; she had seen… something. He looked ahead into the altered shadows, curious and terrified at the same time. They glimpsed around the corner ahead and noticed an air duct had collapsed into the hall, leaving just enough room for one to crawl under cautiously, and they deduced quickly that the source of the crash had been this large tube. "Here, you go first. I'll hold it to make sure it doesn't fall." She smiled as he said this. "Thanks." She set herself in position to go under the duct, ready to crawl like a toddler to safely pass through. He positioned himself over her and braced himself under the pipe, allowing her to go quickly. As soon as she arrived at the opposite side, however, he felt the large duct begin to settle and crumble, and he dove out of the way to safety as it destroyed itself and made it impossible for him to regroup with her. "Hey, are you alright?!" He called out to her, making sure she was not injured in the event. "Yeah, I'm fine!" she called back, her voice muffled by the metal and stone between the two of them. "I'm gonna try to find a way around this, alright? Will you be fine until I get back?" "Sure!" Tentatively, he spun on his heel and ran back in the direction they came from.

Ten minutes had passed, he had been following the time on his watch to make sure she didn't have to wait for too long. Ten minutes seems like a long time, however, when one is trapped behind a collapsed air duct in an underground paranoia factory with the most terrifying being in their existence following them the entire time. He was out of breath, but he pushed himself further past his limit to decrease the amount of time she had to spend in terror. A female scream pierced the still-chilling air, air that had caused his chest and throat to hurt as he inhaled it, and the blood drained from his face. To him, the scream was a sign that he was far too late to do anything, but turning the corner proved him miraculously incorrect. She was sitting with her back to the wall, her head drooping and swaying as if she was dozing off but trying to avoid it. "Hey! You okay?" She snapped up, surprised to hear his voice again. "Y-yeah, you just took a while, that's all." "Sorry about that. Let's just get out of here." He took her hand again, joyful to once again feel the heat of her hand against his, and helped her up as he scanned the halls extending from the junction they were standing in. He could not see the tall figure in any of them, relieved and stunned at the discovery. An annoying crackle lightly played out in his ears, and he turned to her to ask if she heard the sound as well. As she entered his sight, he saw that she was facing away from him, and moments later her shrill shriek replaced the white noise. It had been behind them. Standing there, waiting for them to notice. He watched her fall over, presumably from passing out, and he glanced to see the 'face' of their stalker. The head was completely devoid of feature, essentially as if someone had erased or wiped off the face of the being. All visible skin was paper-white, far past being simply pale. Its height was incredible; it towered over the boy easily. He felt his eyelids start to flutter and become heavy, and a pulsing pain rang through his skill as he fell to the floor, losing consciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

The two men stood next to each other at the airport, both waiting for a different plane but having the same final goal. "I heard someone bought the resort." "Yeah, the one in Sweden. I don't have much time left, I can feel it." The first man turned to the other to continue the conversation, surprised by his friend's undying constitution. "What's in the case?" The first man gestured to a small steel suitcase in the second's hands. "It's… the Red Sphere. Effects are experimental as well as classified." The second man quickly grabbed the first's shirt collar with a wild look in his eyes. "You CAN'T tell a single goddamn person, this is a make it or fucking break it situation for me, I don't want our personal history getting in the way of that." "I understand, Steven, more than anyone. I've got secrets to keep, too." The second man, Steven, calmed down and let go of the first man's shirt. "I'm sorry, Jay, I just… I worry. This is big, the Society is being very clear with that, and if I mess it up I can expect my head to be mounted in The Boss's office." "I understand, my project is the same way." Steven noticed the comment and inquired accordingly. "My project is the… well, _Der Grosse_. I'm sure you've heard the stories, the old wives' tales, the legends, the myths, what have you." Steven nodded. "I'm familiar with it. How are you going about deployment?" Jay said nothing for a few moments, hesitating at the prying questions. "I've made it… infect the subconscious. When experienced in REM sleep, it binds itself into the subject's mind and makes itself a reality. After a few days, changes occur in the subject; they are far more paranoid, they hallucinate and hear voices, they talk in slurred, insane speech patterns. Degradation. Eventually it can lead to death, most often by suicide, which I'm sure you can understand." Steven laughed. "Far different from my methods, but I'm impressed. A clever application with little to no need of a cleanup crew." Jay's plane called to begin the boarding procedure, and the men shook hands to say farewell. "For the Society." Jay recited the phrase back, but with a slight variation. "For _our_ Society, Doctor." Steven smiled as Jay walked away.

Anja rolled out of her bed lazily and began to prepare herself for her day with the Clampes siblings. Her phone sounded while she was finishing up, and she picked it up on the last ring while still applying her makeup. "Hello?" "Anja, it's Destry. I'm calling off our movie date." He sounded frantic, yet kept his calm. "What's wrong?" She sensed him tense up, despite not being terribly close to his location. "Axie…" "What?" "Something's wrong with Axie. We need you right now." She dropped her mascara tube, stunned at what she had heard. If her suspicions were correct, the apparition had crossed a line. "I'll be there in ten minutes." He thanked her, and while she was still hanging up the phone she was grabbing her coat and shoes, heading for the door. Eight minutes later she was on his doorstep, knocking on the thick wood door that separated the troubled, warm inside from the ruthless chill outside. Destry cracked the barrier open, and upon seeing Anja standing with an uneasy visage. "Hey. She's upstairs." She walked up into the young girl's room, which was decorated with typical posters of One Direction and the like, and stood over her. Axie was asleep, but horribly restless; the sheets were tousled, her hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat, she was gasping for breath… something WAS wrong, clearly. "How long has she been like this?" "I guess a few hours… she was like this when I woke up." "Have you called the doctor or something?" He shifted his weight uneasily. "Well… no, but…" "WHAT?! Why the hell not?! Damn it, Destry, this is your own SISTER for shit's sake!" The expression on his face was pained with regret; he knew there wasn't going to be anything he could do to ease the mood while Axie was in such a condition. A few long minutes passed, and just as Anja was standing up to call somebody, Axie finally stirred from her slumber. Destry was the first to react. "H-hey, Axie! Holy shit, you're okay?" She rubbed her tired eyes in confusion. "Was something wrong…?" "Um… I don't really know…" "Oh! I remember a dream I had! You were in it, Destry. It was this dark basement place, and it was cold, and… I don't remember what else, but I think it was an adventure!" Anja saw Destry stop breathing for a minute, and a sense of dread began to wash over her. "Axie… did you see anyone besides me in the dream?" "Um… I think so, but everything gets kinda fuzzy when I try to think about it." He turned to Anja with a true face of fear plastered on. "Do you at least remember any details about the other person? Anything at all, please." "He was tall, I think… I already told you, I'm not sure." Anja stormed out of the room and practically ran down the stairs, Destry following close behind. "Are we going to see the Professor?" She flashed him a look without speaking a word, and he immediately understood. The matter was urgent beyond recognition, Axie was now a target of the slenderman; they had all wished it wouldn't come to this. "Wait, how do you even know where he lives?" "They listed the address on the website, I wrote it down when I looked up his phone number the other day." He nodded, and the rest of their frantic walk was silent and cold.

A harsh knock on the door woke him up from his well-deserved slumber, and choice words were uttered as he made his way to answer it. Upon opening the door, two familiar and pained faces greeted him. "Professor, we need your help. Axie's seen him in her dreams." He stretched before responding. "Where is she now?" "My house, in her room. Should we bring her over here, or…?" "Here's fine. Twenty minutes, I'll be ready." They nodded as he closed the door and turned, his head spinning from a lack of proper sleep. His house felt empty and dull, but at the same time strangely comforting and warm. If only his line of work were more honest, he thought, he may be able to stay here longer. He tidied himself up and prepared a pot of green tea to serve to his guests, who were scheduled to arrive in mere minutes. "Dammit… how'd I get myself into this shit…?" The knock came again, this time lighter and more reserved. "Hey, Professor. This is Axie, my little sister." "A pleasure to meet you, Axie. You have an unusual name, and I must say that I enjoy it." She flushed with red and hid behind Destry, quietly muttering, "My real name is Alex… Axie's a nickname." The Professor smiled down at her with a truly sincere look in his eyes, apologizing for the mistake. "So, Axie, tell me about your dream. Your brother tells me there's someone you've seen, and that someone is an individual whom I am very interested in. I can use any and all details." Axie shifted her weight, eventually sitting down to make herself more comfortable in the stranger's home. She spent a few minutes recalling the dream, and explained what she could to the Professor in a more elaborated version of what she had told her older brother. The Professor had written most of the key points that he felt important, stepping out of the room with Anja and Destry to discuss the situation at hand. "Destry, I hate to have to tell you this, but your sister is now in the same sinking boat as you. I can do for her as little as I can for you two, I want you to understand that. Ask her to keep a dream journal, make her write down every detail she sees in REM sleep. You two should do the same as well, it will help to see if any significant changes occur and it may possibly help delay any danger involved." "Thanks, I'll tell her to do so… but you're one hundred percent sure there's nothing to do involving a possible cure? As in nothing at all?" The Professor hesitated before answering, a look of doubt and sorrow in his. "I'm sorry, Destry, but no… there's absolutely nothing any of us can do to stop him." Anja, who had been quiet until this point, spoke up and broke the disturbed air in the room. "Professor, I have something to ask… I tried to call you Friday night, but you never answered… why?" The Professor hitched his breath for the second time, looking around the room as if he was searching for an answer in the support beams holding his grand house and preventing it from collapsing on every innocent individual inside. "I… I was busy. I had a meeting I had to go to, and I couldn't bring my phone to it. That's the school's policy when it comes to shit like that." She looked suspicious, doubting his incredibly convenient answer, but he was closer to the truth than she may have thought. Destry, uncomfortable with the electricity that now filled the small space, piped up to suggest options. "Anja, we should probably bring Axie home… there's nothing we can really do, as the Professor said, and this whole scenario is starting to become incredibly awkward…" She nodded to agree with him and was the first to leave the room, with the two men following close behind. "Come on, Axie. Let's go home for now, the Professor and I will discuss this stuff later." She set down the cup of tea she had been drinking and skipped over to her brother. Seeing her happy-go-lucky attitude remain strong pulled him into a darker part of his heart, a part he had no idea even existed; if she was able to remain so calm in the terror enveloping her, why couldn't he? Without realizing, he blindly followed his sister and the love of his life back to his home, completely imbibed with restless though. Anja snapped him out of his trance, though she was clearly moved in a tragic way herself. He felt warm tears flow from his eyes and across his cheeks, and words could simply not express the intense shock of sadness that hit him right there on his porch. Anja hugged him, a long and depressing hug that enticed his true inner thoughts to explode. She remembered the dream of the forest where Destry first saw the slenderman, and how it was much simpler back then, with her crying on his shoulder instead of the opposite that was occurring now in the real world. "I'm sorry, Destry…" His sobbing made it impossible for him to respond with anything more than a tighter hug. "I wish none of this had ever happened, and now your sister, too… I'll do some research to see if I can find anything that can help." He relinquished his grasp on her just as a light rain began to fall, and he nodded in agreement. Through the partially opened door they saw Axie, sulking on a couch in the living room, and they both knew she at least partially understood what was going on and the intense significance of the situation they all were in. "I'm gonna go home now, okay?" Destry still held little to no response as he stared into the rain, which was falling more as time passed. "Well… I'll either call tonight or just see you tomorrow in school." She somberly stepped into the downpour to begin her walk home.

He watched her from the safety of a car with mildly tinted windows, snapping a few photographs of her anguished expression before pulling out a cell phone and calling his contact. "Sir, it's me. Subject three seems to be degrading at a steady rate, and there seems to have been little to no collateral in the wake. Any further orders?" The contact, labeled 'The Top', denied his question and hung up. He seemed to be satisfied with the call, turning the key in the ignition and pulling away from the curb he had been previously waiting at.


	7. Chapter 7

The little girl heard rain hit the window near her head, and she immediately felt lost and confused. The room she was in was expansive and resembled a classroom without desks, and a teddy bear hung on the wall in a gruesome fashion. Upon closer inspection, she realized the bear had been run through with a large horn-like object and mounted on the vertical surface a few feet above where she could reach. When she tried for it, a strange weight resisted in her hand, a video camera caught in her grasp. A clap of thunder roared through the air and knocked her off of her feet, and the bear fell off the horn and onto her lap. She stood up and held the hand of the stuffed animal in a sort of macabre sweetness that stung her young nose with a sense of pity for the inorganic creature. A door in front of them opened with a light gust of wind that permeated her thin jacket, causing her to tremble with both the temperature and a slight sense of fear. The second she stepped into the hall, a roaring bass tone stopped her movement completely and she heard a whispery voice drift through her head. "Nighty… night…" The tone stopped and she spun around, frightened and trying to find the source of the voice, but nobody was anywhere nearby. She could feel a pulse in her head that was not her heart, one that was simply an annoyance. She did not think too hard on it, however, and instead turned to face the right hall and began to slowly walk and scan the empty walls. Black withered roses sprung up where she stepped, creating a small flash of light each time they appeared and helping to slightly illuminate her pathway in conjunction with the weak video camera flashlight. After a few steps, the camera let out a timid bleeping sound that caught her interest. She stopped moving to make sure there wasn't a problem with it, and she noticed a flashing icon that indicated the card inside was full. Struggling, she eventually found the menu that let her view the files that were taking up the space on the card and decided to watch one of the earliest dated recordings. An upside-down forest greeted her on the small viewing screen, and it eventually was learned that the camera itself was upside down. A weak light helped illuminate the forest once it was upright, and the individual who had been holding the camera at the time of the recording began to walk. This scene seemed to continue for close to ten minutes, and finally a car appeared in the distance. The car had been clearly abandoned, and the wielder of the camera seemed distraught. A white glow emanated from the trunk of the car, and a note reading 'Always watches… no eyes' was the source of it. The small girl accidentally hit the fast-forward button, fumbling to stop the recording just as it hit the moment the man appeared from behind the tree. The girl recognized the man; she had seen him before somewhere. She felt the camera pulse and the screen flickered black, and after a few seconds the red recording light blinked back on. The tiles under her feet whispered and wheezed, pushing their secrets into her heels and urging her to walk. She followed their airy order and set her destination as the end of the hall, which seemed to not be far away until she started. The roses, whispers, and secrets set her mind in a place of slight brilliance, despite the pulse that invaded her psyche and was increasing over time. Colors bled down the walls as she approached her waypoint, pooling on the floor and drowning the dead roses that had sprouted behind her, but this did surprisingly little to dampen either her progress or spirit. A note sat at the center of the floor by the wall that marked the end of her little walk; she only now noticed the lack of a way to leave, save for the rose-filled hall she came from. The note was written in ink with clear handwriting, but a few words were scratched out beyond recognition. The girl picked it up and began to read it aloud to herself_. "My name is [illegible word] and this may be considered by final words. For the past week I have been [illegible word] by [illegible word], and I'm afraid that it's all over now. [illegible word], [illegible word] and [illegible word], I'm sorry I couldn't do more for any of you. If I had more time to right my wrongs and fix my mistakes, I would do so without hesitation. In a few hours that will be impossible. And [illegible word], since I know you'll find this before anyone else, I love you. Goodbye." _White light began to cloud the corners of the girl's vision, and the roses grew back to their full splendor as she was blinded, their life's song filling the otherwise dead air around them. Everything disappeared.

Destry burst into his sister's room, having heard her crying as he prepared for school. "Axie, is everything okay?" She was still in her bed, rubbing her eyes while the unrestrained tears flowed across her flushed cheeks. "I… I don't know… everything was so beautiful, but it just…" Another sobbing fit crashed upon her, and Destry sat down beside her to embrace her, despite still being confused. She cried for a few minutes, eventually regaining control of herself. Destry glanced at his watch, saying "Shit, I'm gonna be late… how about this. Tell me about it after school, okay?" Axie nodded somberly and got out from under the sheets to start her morning routine. Anja was already at the corner to meet him when Destry got within sight of it, and he jogged to keep her from waiting. Somberly, she noted "You're late…" A weak smile brushed across her lips, quickly disappearing as fast as it had come. He stared at her expectantly. "I… I couldn't find anything. Sorry." "She was crying this morning. I assume it was a dream, she was still in bed when I tried to talk to her about." Anja only nodded. "I'll talk to her about it later… so yeah… um… fuck, I'm sorry Anja, it's just that everything is going to hell and it's grabbed my ankles, dragging me down with it." "I know, trust me… I understand. More than anyone else, even the Professor." They had been walking as they conversed, and they arrived at their school before they realized time had even passed. "Ten minutes… I'll talk to you in ten minutes, in the Professor's room after I grab something to chew on." She smiled an empty smile as he stepped away, but as soon as he was out of sight she was in angry business mode. She was almost sprinting through the school halls, soon arriving at the Professor's office. His door was becoming very familiar due to the unfortunate circumstance. She crashed in, yelling as soon as her first foot was firmly placed on his territory. "What the hell is going on, exactly?! She's getting worse, and she only began having the terrors yesterday, and she's advancing faster than both Destry and me!" Jason spun around in his chair to face his vocal assailant with a face of shock, lowering a phone he had been speaking on and disconnecting his current call. "What are you talking about? Calm down and just… talk." Anja took a breath and explained Axie's situation to the best of her knowledge. He looked her in the eyes the entire time, which unsettled her. A few moments passed after she finished, the Professor was coming up with a response for her that would make her feel good without saying too much. "… I don't know," was the best he could come up with. "You don't… know? You don't know?! How the flying FUCK do you not know?! You helped me with all of this shit, how can't you help her?!" He hung his head a little, expecting her to stop. She did. "I'm sorry, Professor, I'm just… stressed…" "I understand, I am too. Soon enough you'll know everything, I promise." Her spine felt tingly all of the sudden, as if an aura of immense terror had filled the room. Her fear caused her eyes to go wide and her palms to start shaking, and she stood up, excusing herself, stepping out of the room as quickly as she had entered. A few students passed her with varied looks; one had headphones in and was too busy listening to 'Hospitality' by Funeral for a Friend to pay her any mind. "Anja…?" Destry had snuck up on her. "Is something wrong?" "No, at least I don't think so…" He had two muffins in his hands, and he held one out to her in a sort of gesture of kindness. "You look pale, something's obviously wrong. Can you tell me? Scratch that, you need to tell me. I'm not giving you an option in this matter, sorry." He smiled at her in a 'talk or you don't get food' sort of manner, and she laughed a little before retelling yet another event. When she said the Professor's words, they seemed like normal words… they weren't laced with the same horrifying tinge they had then he spoke them originally. "And that's why you're standing in the hall looking like you've just seen the slenderman? Not to be rude, but something's wrong with you. Stuff like this never used to phase you…" "My dreams didn't used to be haunted, either." They stood in the hall awkwardly for a few minutes until the bell rang and killed their silence. "We'll talk later. Sorry." She nodded and they headed into the Professor's class.

The enormous window allowed an unrestricted view of the drizzly city below, providing a deliciously sinister atmosphere for the two men in the room that currently stood beside it. "I trust your flight went well?" "Of course. Got to meet a nice and familiar face while I was waiting for the connection flight, and we made a little chit-chat before he had to go." The first man smiled blandly, he had more important issues to discuss. "Doctor, you know his experiment is going to wrap up soon, right?" "Of course, why?" "As soon as his results are sent in and added to the database, I want you in Sweden." The Doctor turned to him with a mortified look on his face. "But… why? Why this, why now? I thought we could…" "Look, distribution by warhead simply will NOT work in the way we want it to; the Unseen already brought us their results on the different methods of release. The most effective is manual." The first man looked upon the Doctor, waiting for an answer. "Well?" "Just, fuck… does it have to be like this?" "Yes. This is the only way the Top will be satisfied." They both sighed audibly. The Doctor spoke again after a few moments. "So… is he coming back here when he's done?" "Yeah, you might – and that is a might – see him before you go." The Doctor moved to the large wood desk that sat a few feet from the window, picking up the card that lay on its vast flat top. He chuckled a little bit, mostly to himself. "His name is fitting – the codename, I mean – especially because of his cover. You sick fucks are pretty clever, seriously, who came up with this? Whoever came up with this needs a medal. It's almost like he's a superhero or something, like… a bird? A plane? No, Jason Dent, the Professor!"


	8. Chapter 8

The next day, the rains came. Axie was asleep, and Destry was assembling himself for the coming hours of school. Anja had called him at an ungodly hour in the morning, wanting to meet with him before school at her house. Grudgingly, he accepted her offer and had dragged himself to his current position. As far as he could tell, Axie hadn't had an episode throughout the night, which was both reassuring and unsettling at the same time. The sun hadn't risen yet, the chilled air amplifying the watery spears that descended from the midnight black clouds above. Destry took the short walk from his house to Anja's, lightly tapping on the large door. It was a daunting task in the current outdoor conditions, with the only source of illumination being the small lamp-like light above the porch, flickering with shadow as trickles of water invaded the sanctity of the closed electrical circuit. Just as Anja opened the door, the light turned off, plunging the two into a darkness deeper than the one in their hearts. "Sorry for the short notice, I just… I felt like I needed someone to talk to. Someone important." He nodded, and Anja allowed him inside. The moment the door clicked shut, she snapped the deadbolt and turned to Destry with sudden urgency. "I had another dream… well, nightmare." "I'm all ears." The rain began to worsen, indicated by the rate at which the pattering on the roof increased in severity. "I was in some… some house; I couldn't see outside to see where I was. The windows were too foggy. Anyways, it seemed like a nice enough place… antique furniture, hardwood floors, stuff like that… but there were only a few lights, so I couldn't see far too much. It sounded like it was raining, kind of like it does right now. The slenderman was there… of course… but he seemed different somehow. Less hostile… but more persistent in following me than he had been before. And that's all he did the whole time, he just stayed behind me as I walked around. It unsettled me, though… do you think it could've meant anything?" He was partially thrown off by her question. "Well, I dunno… I mean, it could mean something, but even though his behavior changed, that doesn't necessarily mean it has a reason behind it." She quietly nodded in agreement. "Destry… how did this get so… weird? I mean… just last week, we were so freaked out over this shit, and now, we just… we allow it to desensitize us through and through." This time, he didn't have an answer for her.

Jason adjusted his purple tie in the full-body mirror that covered his wall, preparing for the long day to come. He sighed, he didn't want to do what the orders in the email had him do, but the company gave him no choice. The night before, an email labeled 'Urgent: Professor' dinged into his inbox. The darkness under his puffy eyes were clear indicators of how the situation made him feel. The sun had not come up, could not come up, and would not come up, on account of both the time of the morning and the severity of the current storm, and this left a dreary mood and light around his house. A silent strike of electricity flashed through the room, the light glinting off of a shining silver case that sat behind the bed surreptitiously. He noticed it, remembering the true nature of the job at hand. Grabbing the case, he headed toward the kitchen and prepared himself a light breakfast, although he didn't necessarily have the appetite for anything. He sighed while pouring his coffee. "Fuck… why didn't they just… god dammit…" His shoulders slumped and some of the black liquid spilled onto the counter, the steam rising off of it. He gave up on this endeavor, instead opting to mentally prepare himself for his task. In his study, he pulled out a large leather-bound book, the word 'BECAUSE' embossed on its cover. He opened and began to read it. "_The mind is a strange place. When one is confronted with a choice, one jumps between his or her choices at an incredibly quick rate, and in moments a complete and well-thought decision is made. This inevitably means that we teeter on the opposing side for at least a few seconds. This is doubt. We doubt ourselves even after we have made our decisions, and we constantly agonize over the infinite and impossible 'maybes'. Even up to the day we die, we are completely imbibed with the worry of doubt. End that cycle. Be SURE for once." _The Professor closed the book as his tears first started to stain the pages. He had completely broken, but he stood up and grabbed the silver case, stepping out of the door and into the downpour.

When Axie finally woke up, the house was empty. The rain pattered on the roof, allowing a simple and fast-tempo drumbeat to run her morning routine. After she made it downstairs and had poured her cereal, the lights flickered and died. She felt suddenly small, the large house was filled to the brim with the fluid of darkness and she was unable to navigate the lonely halls. A sense of evil enveloped her entirely.

Anja and Destry fumbled around her house to find a flashlight in the dim light. They found themselves tripping over each other, limbs becoming entangled like a sadistic game of Twister. After a few moments of giving up on movement, Anja spoke up, saying, "Hey, Destry? Think you could… you know, let me breathe?" Apologizing, he reassembled himself and climbed back to his feet. Blushing, he turned away from where she was and resumed his search for the flashlight. He heard a rustling sound behind him, and, just as he decided it was Anja searching for the light, his hands found it. He flipped it on and turned around. "Hey, I found it…" His voice trailed off. Standing before him, brightened by the fresh glow of the flashlight, was a completely topless Anja, baring half of her full glory to him. He could feel himself straining against the confines of his zipper, mere millimeters of cloth separating his secret from hers. "Looks like _someone _wants to come out and play…" she remarked, taking full advantage of both his embarrassment and her own to lighten the situation she had created. "Um… hey, we've still got school and stuff and things… so…" She frowned for a fleeting moment, but gave into his pleas and returned her bra and tank top to their polite positions. The lights flickered back on soon after, and the landline telephone began to ring. Destry looked around, startled by the noise, and Anja chuckled. "You guys don't have a landline over at your house, I assume?" "No, we've all got cell phones. We're a modern family, you hipster cunt," he returned, entirely jokingly. Laughing, Anja moved into the kitchen to answer the phone. "Hello?" On the other end, she could hear the panicked breathing of a young girl. "Axie, is that you?" "Y-yeah… hi Anja. Is my big brother there?" Anja motioned for Destry to come and take the phone. "Yeah, I'll put him on." She handed it to him. "Axie, is something wrong?" "The lights went out and it was dark and you didn't answer your phone when I called and I was scared and… and…" After the rant, she was short of breath. "Calm down, girl, calm down. Do you need us to be there with you?" She hesitated for a moment, trying to decide, and finally settled on a simple, "Yes." He smiled, even though he knew she couldn't see his expression. "Alright, we'll be over in a couple minutes, we just need to grab a few things here. Stay inside, this storm looks like it's not going to get any smaller anytime soon and I don't want you to catch a cold or something. It'll be alright. I love you." After a quick 'bye,' they both hung up. "Well, looks like we're going to my house." He chuckled, but had a strangely worried look on his face. Anja took note of this, but didn't think too much into it. Minutes later, they emerged from the house and stepped into the rain.

Axie closed her phone after saying goodbye to her brother; she had an old hand-me-down flip phone that used to belong to their mother years ago, before the emergence of iPhones and Androids and their dominance on the market. She had a few minutes to kill before Destry got back home to help comfort her, and since the power was shaky at best, she decided against watching cartoons. Upstairs, in Destry's room, she went through his manga collection and found a suitable series to jump into named 'Magic Knight Rayearth,' and she allowed herself to be absorbed into the fantasy realm, under threat by dark forces of evil and saved by the power of love and friendship. The power was shaky for a few minutes before finally deciding to die, meaning road crews would have to venture down the streets while all children were at school tot attempt to restore it. She closed the volume and descended the stairs, once again being enveloped by the downstairs darkness and the tricks it played on her young eyes. A knock came at the door and she ran to answer it.

Anja and Destry turned on the corner before the final stretch that led to the Clampes' family home with the immense torrent of rain dropping on their heads and shoulders. The trees trembled and the wind howled in horror, the tumultuous dark sky not showing any sign of letting up anytime soon. The duo sped their pace up, eager to return to the sanctity of sheltered living conditions, but stopped dead in their tracks as they saw a dark figure standing ahead of them on the walk, staring at Destry's front door. As they got closer, they noticed it was a man wearing a black dress shirt and a purple tie, and had the face of a man they were steadily having shaky feelings about, but still trusted. He had a distant look in his eyes, but due to the rain they couldn't tell if there were tears running down his cheeks or not. "… Professor?" Anja had called to him with a weak voice. "Is… is something wrong?" His head whipped over to look at them with an intense look of pain and sorrow, and his stumbled over his words as he turned away and ran, audibly sobbing. "What…" Her voice drifted off as she heard Destry's bag hit the ground. He was staring at the same spot the Professor had been, at the doorway of his house. The door itself was open, and an open silver case lay just beyond it. He took labored steps up to is, many seconds passing between the steps and his heart rate increasing each time. Anja followed close behind him, resting her hand on his shoulder. They stepped through the doorway, unable to register the scene that lay beyond it clearly. The case had a label on the inside that read '_Jason Dent, the Professor_,' and inside the case, secured by leather straps, was a set of different shaped and sized blades. One was missing. It lay, covered in blood, beside the crumpled body of Axie Clampes.

Destry wailed.


End file.
